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UNBELIEVABLE: 3 | History Defined

“I asked him to get me four bass strings because I only had a $29 guitar from Sears”: Bootsy Collins is one of the all-time bass greats, but he started out on guitar. Here’s the sole reason why he switched

Before he became ‘the’ Bootsy Collins, William Collins was a young guitarist who desperately wanted to join his brother's band

Guitar World

“I said, ‘If I could have it my way it would sound like this,’ and I pulled the bass guitar out of the mix”: Why Prince stripped the bassline from one of his biggest hits

From the beginning, Prince had an inkling that Purple Rain’s landmark single would be better without bass guitar

Guitar World

“He fined me 50 bucks and fired me, even though I didn’t mess up”: The bassists of James Brown reveal what life was really like playing alongside the Godfather of Soul

Fred Thomas, Ray Brundidge and Bootsy Collins dig into what it meant to play with Soul Band No. 1

Guitar World

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“The bass is the instrument you need to play the longest to become truly funky”: 20 funk bass legends who took low-end groove to new heights

A rundown of the best funk bass players of all time, featuring the trailblazers, the early innovators, and the monster groovers around today

Guitar World

“There’s an art to simplicity, and Jason Newsted brought that art. Cliff Burton was more aggressive, and a busier player”: The bassists of Metallica

From Ron McGovney to Robert Trujillo, we trace the evolution of Metallica’s low-end sound

Guitar World

“The six-string bass guitar was a dream – if Leo Fender could come back today I think he would approve”: 10 6-string bassists you need to know

From John Myung to Felix Pastorius to Thundercat, we follow their historic quest for the ultimate extended-range axe

Guitar World

“It’s great to tap like Les Claypool and thump like Marcus Miller, but the world of a studio bassist is different”: Having graced hits by OutKast, TLC, and Usher, LaMarquis Jefferson carved a niche in a scene long dominated by synthetic low-end

LaMarquis Jefferson reveals what it takes to set the pace in today’s studio scene

Guitar World

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“People had warned me how Ritchie chewed up and spat out musicians. Rainbow had already auditioned 40 bass players!” From Ritchie Blackmore to Ozzy Osbourne, Bob Daisley has worked with rock’s heaviest heroes

For more than 30 years, bassist Bob Daisley laid the foundations on which some of the greatest rock and roll ever was built

Guitar World

“We took 36 hours to cut Good Vibrations. We knew it was a big deal”: Carol Kaye’s 10 greatest basslines

The session legend was responsible for some of the finest bass playing ever committed to tape – here are her best moments

Guitar World

“A lot of Slayer riffs aren’t really for bass players – there’s just too many notes”: Slayer’s Tom Araya charts his incredible 4-string journey

From starting on a Paul McCartney Höfner ripoff to pioneering some of the heaviest metal ever committed to tape, Tom Araya admits he's no bass virtuoso… but he “can play fast sometimes”

Guitar World

“The guys were like, ‘Just go for something crazy, and then make it crazier.’ They just couldn’t stop me, man!” The wildest bass solo you’ve never heard? Robert Sledge cranked the fuzz for this Ben Folds Five classic

Sledge describes the Big Muff as an extension of his hands – and he put it to good use on this searing solo

Guitar World

“The role of the bass guitar is groove and support: it’s about getting the most impact from the fewest notes”: As a member of the Saturday Night Live house band, James Genus is the best-kept secret on bass

If you’re only as good as the company you keep, James Genus is bass royalty

Guitar World

“I just remember her playing with a pick. I didn't care how she played, as long as she played the notes right”: Brian Wilson left his mark on the bass world through studio musicians, especially Carol Kaye, who he requested play his basslines note-for-note

In a rare interview, The Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson reflected on bass playing, studio craft and his 2004 masterpiece, Smile

Guitar World

“lan spotted that the relationship between high bass and low guitar was really interesting and unusual. My style of playing came from that”: Peter Hook’s ‘lead bass’ approach spawned a catalog of hits with Joy Division and New Order

One of the most influential bassists of the ‘80s, Peter Hook developed a style marked by open-string drones, and a dark, chorus-drenched tone

Guitar World

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“I sold all my stuff. I even left my car out on the street!” When asked by Miles Davis to move to New York and play some shows, bass great Dave Holland didn’t blink

Dave Holland’s arrival in New York coincided with one of the most transformative periods for Miles Davis and his Lost Quintet

Guitar World

“I’ve worked on pop sessions with artists who have a squeaky-clean image, but what’s behind the scenes is a lot darker than people’s perception of the hip-hop world”: How bassist Mike Elizondo brought low-end and soul to Dr. Dre’s superstar productions

At Dr. Dre’s L.A. hit factory, Mike Elizondo carved up bass grooves with 50 Cent, Eminem, and Busta Rhymes

Guitar World

“I'm like the Pablo Escobar of bass. If a dude works on my pedalboard, it's almost like I have to kill him after he's done!” With Rage Against the Machine, Tim Commerford pioneered an all-time iconic bass tone. No wonder he's cagey about his setup

The toughest right hand in bass charts his never-ending quest for the ultimate tone

Guitar World

“I don’t really listen to Primus. It amazes me that we wrote like that”: Les Claypool looks back on the stomach-churning grooves of Sailing the Seas of Cheese, Primus’ major-label debut and the moment he became a bass superstar

The heralded Tour de Fromage saw the classic Primus lineup reunited – and Les Claypool rediscover the fretless 6-string that made him famous

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“His performance should be studied by all bassists”: Played by a session great, this Chaka Khan line was hailed by Nathan East as “the perfect bassline”

Antony Jackson tuned his ‘career girl’ – a Fender hybrid consisting of a ’75 Jazz Bass body and ’73 Precision neck – down two whole steps for Move Me No Mountain

Guitar World

“I rediscovered the glorious bottom-end of the Fender… I feel far more fluid playing the Jazz Bass than I ever did on the Rickenbacker”: Geddy Lee went on a tonal quest and broke all the bass rules to make Rush sound huge

The Rush frontman charts his experiments in bass tone, and why he'd sometimes tackle the instrument like a lead guitarist

Guitar World

“When I got into Miles Davis' band, playing like my idols – Jaco, Stanley and Larry Graham – wasn't going to work. I had to dig and find something else”: How Marcus Miller found his voice – and became one of the most-imitated bassists in the biz

The bass icon breaks down his formative influences, and how he gave everyone from Prince to Beethoven a low-end makeover via his '77 Fender Jazz

Guitar World

“Please tell the bass players of the world to go easy on me. I did my best to represent you well!” Bob Rock made bass history on Metallica’s St. Anger – quite a feat, since he “never really played bass” before

Producer Bob Rock on making St. Anger, the legacy of Cliff Burton and why he used Loverboy’s bass guitar on every track

Guitar World

“I was playing a lot of jazz when we did Longview. I’d sit in at jazz clubs and read off the Real Book”: If you think Mike Dirnt is another clueless punk, think again

Every success story needs a behind-the-scenes hero, and for Green Day, it was bassist Mike Dirnt. He details the making of American Idiot and his forensic approach to bass tone

Guitar World

“Bach was one of the only guys who really understood the range of the bass. All his cello pieces are right in the 5-string bass range”: John Myung plays for one of rock’s most ambitious bands, and he’s tackling the challenge with extraordinary discipline

The Dream Theater maestro explains what every bassist can learn from Bach, how he developed the Bongo 6-string bass with Ernie Ball, and why he runs a Mesa/Boogie Triple Rectifier on bass…

Guitar World

“They’re both amazing guitarists, but Jeff Beck let you take liberties”: Rhonda Smith had been on call with Prince for more than a decade when she told the Purple One she was busy with Jeff Beck

Session ace Rhonda Smith on how her 10-year stint with Prince came to a close

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